The
Thing Called Love
Like a Bolt from the Blue 
Everyone's talking
about it... and everyone wants to know more
about it... (almost) everyone wants it
and no one truly understands it.
People have
been trying to understand it and explain it
(i.e. put it in a nice secure box for safer observation) for
as long as there have been people.
If you don't have
it in your life, then you want it. But the harder you
look for it, the more elusive it likely becomes. Once
you have it in your life, then you want outside confirmation
that you've made the right choice.
If you once had it,
but then lost it... in your abject misery and pain, you demand
to know why.
But no reason given
is ever going to be enough to satisfy and soothe the pain of
your loss. And if you've decided you're one of those people who have
great difficulty keeping it alive then you search endlessly
through books, magazines, and gurus for magic formula instructions
on the care and feeding of it
What is it?
What is this wonderful (and awful) thing that usually hits us like a
bolt from the blue?
The Thing Called
Love
Truth is
the more we try to pick love apart... the more we attempt
to dissect it, scrutinize it, dismember it,
analyze
it, control it,
and subject it to the light of reason
and rational thinking the more "the thing called love"
elusively slips through our fingers like so many grains of
sand.
Modern science is
now attempting to reduce "the thing called love" to being little more
than a "chemical communication" called pheromones that we share with
the rest of the animal kingdom. And for that matter, it's been discovered
that even an innocent enough 30 second hug releases chemicals in our
bodies that provide the hugger and the huggee with an irrational sense
of well-being.
As a result of these
new discoveries, many 12 Step program advocates are finally beginning
to feel vindicated. 12 Steppers have been speaking out about love's
darker, destructive, addictive qualities for many years. They've labeled
love's darker side as a dysfunctional and co-dependent behavior similar
to drug addiction.
DULI - Let's
face it! When we're DULI (Driving Under Love's Influence) the world
around us feels like a brighter place to live, the chirping of the birds
sounds so much more beautiful, and the air smells oh so much sweeter.
But if (God forbid)
your lover suddenly, unexpectedly leaves you high and dry then love's
effects often feel as if you're undergoing the excruciating, painful
withdrawal of a highly, addictive drug.
It's Greek To Me?
The ancient Greeks had a wonderful non-rational way of explaining
and giving meaning to many of the universal experiences we mortals
share
in.... Falling in love is one of those commonly shared "archetypal"
experiences.
Once
upon a time in Greek mythology... there was a god named Eros.
Originally in Greek mythology, Eros was one of the oldest and
most powerful of the Greek gods. He was
the dynamic force behind the creation of our world (i.e. It's
love that makes the world go 'round.).
Later
on in the development of Greek mythology, the god Eros became
a wee bit more civilized and was
then known as the handsome son of the love goddess Aphrodite.
These days we know
Eros best, by his Roman counterpart Amor or Cupid. And over the passing
of time we've attempted to further tame Cupid by picturing him as a
chubby, harmless, innocent little imp who comes out on Valentine's Day.
However, make no mistake,
the Greeks knew Eros as the most beautiful and desirable of the gods.
Eros was a god not, I repeat not to be taken lightly.
Two Types of Arrows
It's a little known fact that the god Eros actually had two very
different types of arrows with which he pierced the hearts of mortals
and gods.
Eros had
golden tipped arrows that would evoke desire and irresistible
attraction... but Eros also had those nasty leaden tipped arrows
that brought about irrational
feelings of disgust and repulsion.
To the mortal or god
wounded in the heart with one of Eros's special tipped arrows, it was
a wounding of either irrational desire or irrational disgust which suddenly,
seemingly came from "out of the blue" (i.e. out of the sky).
The mortal or god
struck by the arrows of Eros was then destined (and under the compulsion)
to live out this wounding of the heart, often acting in irrational ways
and committing mad, passionate crimes in the name of love.
The
Tragic Story of Apollo and Daphne
The beautiful river nymph, Daphne (meaning laurel) was Apollo's
first love. How this love for Daphne was said to come about is that Apollo, thought
to be the second most powerful of the Olympian gods, had been making fun of the
young god Eros (son of Aphrodite) and bragging about how very weak and puny little
Eros was.
The
Rational Struck Down By The Irrational
To show the powerful Greek god Apollo (the god of rationality), a thing or
two... the god Cupid struck Apollo with one of his (Eros's) gold tipped arrows.
When struck by the gold tipped arrow, Apollo immediately became inflamed with
irrational desire and love for the lovely river nymph, Daphne. However, at
the same time, Cupid struck Daphne with his lead tipped arrow of disgust and
repulsion.
Thus...
the more ardently Apollo pursued his true love, Daphne the
more she (Daphne) became repulsed by Apollo. Apollo pursued Daphne
relentlessly across the face of the earth, and he would not (could
not) give up.
Finally Daphne,
exhausted and terrified, cried out to Mother Earth for help.
Mother Earth then transformed the river nymph, Daphne, into a
laurel tree. Apollo went away rejected and mournful.
And
isn't that an excellent bottom line description of what "falling
in love" and "falling out of love" feels like?
"The
heart has its own reasons that the mind cannot
comprehend..."
Plato
Don't
end up like poor Apollo and Daphne - order the Friends & Lovers Compatibility
Report at Dr Z's StarryMart
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